Creators Mshindo I and Gregory Walker and producer/voice artist Wesley Snipes will officially launch their animated science-fiction project, Zulu Mech 1, at Book Expo America in New York on May 30.

Walker, also known as Brother G, is the author of the Shades of Memnon trilogy, developed as a swords-and-sorcery series with an African consciousness. Mshindo I, who has also worked as Mshindo Kuumba, is a graphic artist whose work has included children's books (Food Adventues With Charles the Chef) and graphic novels (The Fringe).

The basic plot of Zulu Mech 1 involves a kind of a reversal of the Planet of the Apes idea, with humanity as the Earth's far-future successor civilization. Zulu Mech 1 is set in a utopian near future in which world nations are at peace and Africa is a prosperous united state, only to be invaded by strange, highly intelligent creatures called The Elder Race who come not from outer space, but from inside the Earth and who seek to return to world to the way it was before the dawn of humanity and their own self-destruction. The Elder Race seem unstoppable; in a final effort the Mthunzi family from South Africa stand against them and forge the heroic giant robot Zulu Mech 1.

"It's Africa-based sci-fi," explained co-author Brother G. "The Elder race is based on traditions of many African peoples ........